28 December 2005 West Ham 0 Wigan 2 (Roberts 44, Camara 45) Two goals in three minutes at the end of the first half gave Wigan all three points at West Ham. Jason Roberts got the first as he latched onto a flick from Henri Camara to finish well and the roles then were reversed as Roberts found Camara on the edge of the area and after beating his man with a fantastic piece of skill, backheeling it around him, he held off the challenge of Paul Konchesky to drill in. Attendance : 34,131 Assists : Camara, Roberts West Brom 2 (Kanu 23, 52) Tottenham 0 Champions League hopefuls Spurs were shocked at the Hawthorns as struggling West Brom collected all three points. To run salt into the Londoners wounds, both goals were scored by former Arsenal star Nwankwo Kanu. His first came after Nathan Ellington's pass came off of Spurs midfielder Michael Carrick and fell perfectly for the Nigerian to round the keeper and score from a very tight angle. Early in the second half he scored again as he dispossed Anthony Gardner before surging into the area and blasting in. Attendance : 27,510 Assists : n/a, n/a Fulham 3 (McBride 13, Helguson 32 pen, McBride 61) Aston Villa 3 (Moore 29, Ridglewell 60, 77) Brian McBride and Liam Ridgewell both scored twice as Aston Villa came from behind on THREE occasions to earn a much deserved draw at Fulham. The fun began when McBride headed in Tomasz Radzinski's cross at the near post, however Luke Moore drove home an equaliser after latching onto a pass from Milan Baros. Radzinski then went down in the area under a challenge from Mark Delaney and to the anger of the visitors, the assistant ref indicated that a penalty should be given and it was cooly dipatched by Heidar Helguson in similar fashion to his effort at Chelsea two days ago. Villa were level on the hour after James Milner's cross was prodded in at the near post by Ridgewell with just enough power to go over the line, however straight from the kick off, Luis Boa Morte crossed for McBride to send a stunning header across goal and inside the far post. Villa battled back again and from a Milner corner, Ridgewell thumped a header against the underside of the bar and after Fulham failed to clear properly, the same pair combined for the latter to tap home Milner's drilled cross that three near post defenders somehow missed. Attendance : 20,446 Assists : n/a, Baros, Radzinski (won pen), Milner, Boa Morte, Milner Birmingham 2 (Clapham 19, Pandiani 78) Manchester United 2 (van Nistelrooy 5, Rooney 54) Birmingham twice came from behind to earn a highly creditable point against Man United at St Andrews. United scored early on when Kieron Richardson's cross was blasted against Ruud Van Nistelrooy as Matthew Upson went to clear the ball and bounced past the keeper and into the net. The equaliser left United furious after Cristiano Ronaldo seemed to be fouled by Nicky Butt, however play was waved on and Jiri Jarosik and Emile Heskey combined to set up Jamie Clapham to fire in through Edwin Van Der Sar at the near post. The lead was regained early in the second half when Alan Smith's pass was dummied by Van Nistelrooy, allowing Wayne Rooney to take a touch before passing the ball into the net, however an inspired substitution put the home side level again as Walter Pandiani took the field and within a minute, had equalised as United failed to clear a free kick and after Damien Johnson drilled the ball across goal, Pandiani was at the far post to tap in. Attendance : 28,459 Assists : n/a, Heskey, Smith, Johnson Manchester City 0 Chelsea 1 (Cole 79) Chelsea continue their surge towards retaining their title with a narrow win at Man City, the only team to beat AND keep two clean sheets against the Champions in the league last season. The only goal was scrappy, however it was eventually tapped in by Joe Cole after from Eidur Gudjohnson and Hernan Crespo had been denied by keeper David James. Attendance : 46,587 Assists : n/a Arsenal 4 (Bergkamp 7, Reyes 13, Henry 37, 43 pen) Portsmouth 0 Arsenal walloped struggling Portsmouth thanks to a first half, four goal blitz. They were ahead early on when Jose Antonio Reyes set up Dennis Bergkamp to slot the ball home and six minutes later, Thierry Henry returned the compliment to Reyes who found the top corner. Mattieu Flamini then sent Henry clear and having rounded the keeper, he clipped in the third from a tight angle and the first half rout was completed when Reyes was pushed in the area by Brian Priske and Henry calmly chipped in the penalty. Attendance : 38,223 Assists : Reyes, Henry, Flamini, Reyes (won pen) Everton 1 (Beattie 42) Liverpool 3 (Crouch 11, Yobo 18 og, Cisse 47) Red Card : Neville 69 (Everton), Arteta 93 (Everton) Merseyside pair Liverpool and Everton are going in opposite directions as Everton slumped to another defeat as their local rivals made it nine domestic wins on the bounce. The game looked all over by the eighteenth minute, by which time Stever Gerrard's header had sent Peter Crouch clear to round the keeper and score and then a poor clearance from Steve Finnan's cross fell to Gerrard whose deflected shot found the net from 25 yards. Everton battled back and had a goal ruled out when James Beattie headed in Tim Cahill's cross, however it was ruled that the ball was out before Cahill dispatched it. Minutes later, they did pull one back as Mikel Arteta crossed, Kevin Kilbane headed it back across goal at the far post and after Simon Davies had hooked an overhead effort goalwards, Beattie was on hand to glance the ball in. What brief hope Everton had disappeared within 75 seconds of the second half as Harry Kewell sent Djibril Cisse away down the left and after cutting in and beating a challenge, he curled a superb shot inside the far post. It was rarely a violent encounter, yet Everton ended with nine men after ref Graham Poll stuck totally to the letter of the law. Firstly, Phil Neville clipped Mohamed Sissoko whose swallow dive was surely not needed as it emphasized the contact and ultimately gave the Everton man his second red card of the campaign. In stoppage time, Arteta followed him with another innocuous tackle, this time on Luis Garcia, however once again a second yellow was forthcoming. Attendance : 40,158 Assists : Gerrard, n/a, Davies, Kewell Gary Dowden - Joint Admin Topica Premier-L list http://www.topica.com/lists/premier-L/ Leeds United and Scotland and proud of it http://www.peanutsfan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/footiemad The Unofficial Premiership Site |